I started this last week, but after finding out about the death of a member of #speccy who I’d talked to for many years, I was a bit upset and never really felt like finishing this. Either way, I’ll try to recover this post the best I can….

[presses Play]

There are two things which make me jump up and down with excitement in the middle of Asda. The first is the sight of a new variation on the humble microwave curry, the second is cut price microwave curries. You can imagine how much I squealed like a marinated piggy at the sight of the following…

Yes, the um…. “boffins” at our favourite USA-owned supermarket have done it again, this time with their “Spicy Chicken Curry”. Hurrah! Imagine my delight at such a beautiful image gracing the shelves. Not only are they over half the price of their standard “indian” range, they’ve also returned back to the 450-gram sizes, which does me nicely as a “works meal” without having to feel bloated. My mistake was, I only bought one. I have a feeling they’ll have all gone tomorrow, when I return to Asda.

Sooo. After a miniscule amount of time in the microwave, this is my first glance at the newly invented curried delight…

Now, onto the taste test. Well… it’s… a bit bland if I’m honest. It certainly doesn’t deserve the “hot” motif on the packaging, and the word “spicy” is also a little dubious. Now, don’t gt me wrong, this isn’t a bad thing. This rating of “bland” comes from someone who could live off curry. I even have a tub of my own special mixture… the recipe was passed down from a friend, which consists of 50% neat chilli powder. I asked Chris to taste a little bit of this mixture, and he still complained about his mouth burning two days later. Great stuff!

So, what does it taste like? Well, the basmati rice makes a nice change from the normal pilau rice. The curry itself reminds me very much of the Pataks’ Chicken Balti variety, and as usual, adding water to the rice does help with it drying out.

[stop]

OK, so that’s where the original post ended. I’ll continue where it left off.

Thankfully, I returned to Asda on Friday, and they still had a couple of them in the fridges, so without hesitation, I bought two. They appeared to have changed the recipe very slightly since the original batch - they were nicer, and the taste seemed to have been stronger. Still not much of a fiery kick, but that’s not much of a problem anymore. The gorgeous taste was enough to get me through.

I’m undecided as to whether I like the white basmati rice better, or the yellow pilau stuff they have in the rest of the range. The one good thing about the basmati rice, as opposed to the pilau rice, is that you don’t have to pick bits of bayleaf and cardamom pods out of it. It’s a bit of a shame that occasionally, the pilau rice in their other meals resembles a forest floor. I don’t exactly find a piece of twig appetising, though, with all that “seasoning”, it does taste better.

So, overall, I would be lying if I didn’t find the new spicy curry good value for money, especially as I currently have two in my fridge (I bought some more on Monday). I’d be interested to see how long they keep it in its current format, at the bargain-tastic price of £1. Overall, I’d say rush out and buy some, but make sure you leave some for me.

EDIT: The offer ends on 18th (or 19th June, can’t remember). They have also moved their original curry range slightly further up the shelves, which is now occupied by an entire range of salads…

Technorati Tags: asda, curry, Food, microwave

Well, I did indeed redo the hedge, this time with the hedge trimmer, so it looks a little neater than my attempt at hacking at it with the shears. And, shock horror, I even got the lawn mower out and did the grass. After not being cut for two years the whole of the front garden had taken a wicker-like appearance, which means after this years’ green stuff, below it was the dried out skeletal remains of last years grass. This means it was almost impossible to cut.

In fact, I got so fed up with it, I ended up going to Asda and buying a rake to try and get as much of the old stuff ripped up as possible. Unfortunately, after all of my efforts, this is the result. It’s went from this….

… to this:-

I don’t know *why* I bothered. The privet looks bald, the “grass” looks grey, and James’s cat can no longer have a snooze in it. I ended up with more nettle stings than that time I fell head first into a nettle patch. What a complete waste of time and effort. Ok, that photo was taken before I got around to clearing the last of the privet trimmings, and removing that little plastic bag in the middle of the “lawn”, but even after they are removed, it still It looks worse than when I began.

OK, so it’s the first time I’ve tackled the garden for a year or so, I suppose I’ve only got myself to blame for leaving it so long. It’s been raining now for a while, so hopefully the sun will come out and let the grass begin to grow again. Despite the fact I spent most of the weekend doing it, and I’m wholly disappointed with the results, it was nice to be in the sunshine, and it’s nice to be able to see out of the window again. This time I promise to keep on top of it by regularly trimming / mowing to the best of my ability, until I either kill something, lose a limb, or electrocute myself by cutting through the power cable….

The next job is to attempt to cut through the “jungle” in the back garden. There have always been large elderberry bushes planted as a boundary between our garden, and the house to the back of ours. These have just been left to overgrow, and now take up about 10 metres of the garden. Nothing grows there any more, it’s just simply too dark. Of course the mounds of dogshit deposited on there probably doesn’t help either…

I shall photograph my future progresson the gardens, as this is a subject I’m not going to let die, unlike the grass out the front…

Technorati Tags: cat, cut, front, garden

Ahh, this takes me back. It’s funny that Chad (aka Randy Lahey in the recent comments) mentioned my very first bike, which was amusingly titled the Bangermobile. Therefore, I shall reminisce a little about said bike.

Actually, if you want to split hairs, The Bangermobile was NOT my first bike, though it was the first one I actually used. Many years ago, my parents bought me a white BMX bike (not the one I mentioned in the previous post) out of the paper. The only problem is, it was huge, and I was tiny. Therefore, I never, ever rode it. It just gathered dust and cobwebs in the washhouse for about 2 years. I hoped I’d grow into it, but I was about 6 at the time, and I’d need to have waited until I was 14 before I’d have been able to get on it without someone’s assistance.

I was frustrated, I knew I had a bike. I wish I was big enough to have taken it out. Eventually, I got bored of waiting, and lost interest. I was about 8 at the time. Suddenly, unknown to me the bike disappeared entirely. The story, as far as I know it, is that my Uncle Jimmy took it to the bike shop up King Oswy, and swapped it for a bike which was more my size. The result was a plain purple coloured pushbike with racing handles on it, shown below…

Over time, I found the racing handles a little hard to use, therefore they were replaced with standard handlebars which looked like they may have came from one of those little trolleys old people pull behind them. I didn’t mind. The bangermobile was mine, and no matter how much the other kids in the photo mocked me, I didn’t care, I could finally join in with their races, etc. That is, as long as they didn’t go beyond the end of the square. For the record, Chad is the lad at the back with his thumbs in the air.

I loved that bike. I could finally join in when everyone else got their bikes, building ramps in the square and jumping over certain objects, though I seem to remember falling off more times than enough.

I have no idea what stopped me from using the Bangermobile, possibly a puncture, possibly the fact you used to be able to turn the handlebars without the wheels turning, possibly a horrific fall which I’ve subconciously blocked from my mind and now cannot remember.

Either way, if bikes were dragons, the Bangermobile would be called Puff. Purple things and rusted rings made way for other toys. The bangermobile slowly slunk into its cave, located behind my dad’s shed. Well, it wasn’t a cave, I just said that so it fitted in with the song. In fact, it was (and still is) a completely useless piece of the back garden, which has always been covered in weeds.

Some time later (at least a couple of years), the Bangermobile was discovered by me and whatever friends I was with at the time. We decided it would be great to see it back from the dead, and attempted to repair it. Unfortunately, these attempts proved to be fruitless, when after repairing the tyres about 5 times, getting them pumped up at the Shell garage, only for the air to escape 5 seconds later, it was decided that the life of the Bangermobile was at an end. I’m not sure what happened to it after that. I was too old to care. We probably smashed it up.

It’s not all bad news. Remember those handlebars I didn’t like? The ones in the above picture? Well, they’re still with us. They now act as a handrail in our (mainly disused for 10 years) downstairs toilet…

I went out on my new bike again, just for something to do while the sun was shining. Imagine my delight when the front reflector fell off and went hurtling down the road to the side of me. I’m going to replace them with lights at some point anyway, so that’s not a problem, but why did it have to make me look like a cock in the first place, having to stop and pick it up? Someone was walking past at the time, I bet she had a good giggle. Sob.

Technorati Tags: bangermobile, bike, chad, childhood

Way back in September 2004, you may remember that I bought a bike Since then, it’s been sat in the shed. I’ve never ridden it. That is, until today.

Yes, I took my bike for the very first ride of its life…. down to the post box and back. Hardly the most glamorous of locations, but I had some DVDs to send back, so I thought I’d give it a spin to see what it was like. And it was great. I always thought I’d forget how to ride it, seeing as it’s about 13 years since I last rode a bike - my old black BMX.

One thing I’d forgotten about is how much it hurts, saddle-wise. I’m wondering why they don’t make them more confortable. It can’t be hard to slap a little bit of foam on it…

Other firsts today include the first time the privet out of the front of our house has been cut this year. I made a complete balls-up of it, as unknown to me, Daddykins had loaned out the hedge trimmer, so I ended up having to use our desperately blunt and useless shears. I also watched an episode of Doctor Who, for the first time. It wasn’t heart-stoppingly brilliant, but it passed an hour or so.

I’ll probably get the bike out again tomorrow, assuming the weather is as good as it was today. I might also redo the hedge if we get the hedge trimmer back.

Technorati Tags: bike

Oh, joy. Today didn’t get much better than yesterday. Work again, so it’s been a case of getting up, going to work, coming home, blogging, then bed. Er, at least the taxi ride home had good music. The driver had Century on. I entered the taxi, just as “London Nights” by the London Boys was finishing, next up was Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough”. another quality song, but the rest of the journey had one of the greatest songs ever… “Though the Barricades” by Spandau Ballet. I love that track.

On the subject of music, I actually bought a copy of an obscure record I’ve been looking for since I was about 13. It’s the Loading Bay Records version of Ankie Bagger’s “Where Were You Last Night”, a song I know nobody on this entire planet will know. (but I’m sure it’ll start picking up search results in the near future).

I first heard this song some time in about 1993. Daddykins was in the washhouse experimenting with packet radio. I was in the front room listening to a temporary radio station somewhere in Middlesbrough, when they began to play “Rofo’s Theme”, a song I will always remember from childhood holidays at the world famous Sandy Bay. I slapped in a cheap cassette tape in order to record this excellent tune. At the end, they mixed it with this song, which was unknown to me at the time. Luckily, the DJ did indeed announce both tracks’ names and artists.

Packet radio is a method of transmitting computer data via radio, and was (occasionally still is) used by ham radio enthusiasts to transmit text through the airwaves at a moderately acceptable baud rate. Unfortunately, Daddykins transmitting these data packets affected my recording, and every 30 seconds or so, there is a loud squeal, totally wiping out both songs for a second or so.

Sadly, the tape has long gone. At some point in the last few years, I recalled this song, and after weeks of searching, tracked down an awful copy of it. Unfortunately, this copy was taken from the 7″ version of the song, and was scratched up in places. Oh well.

Every so often, I went onto ebay, looking for it, and I kept getting sick of seeing “0 items found for
ankie bagger”. There were CD versions appearing occasionally, going for extortionate amounts, and none of those were the Loading Bay version. I was on ebay the other day, and just did a search for a bit of fun… the result?

“Ankie Bagger Where Were You Last Night Loading Bay Rec”… oh my.

Again, it was a few quid more than I’d normally pay for vinyl, but I couldn’t really give up this opportunity. As shown in the picture, I bid for, and bought this vinyl delight… yay, go me. So, I’ve been belting that down my ears ever since. Wahey!

On the subject of music, the Middlesbrough “Music Live” thing is on again, which I attended back in 2004. If it was anything like last time, it’s definitely worth going. I know a load of people from work are going, so I think it’s going to be a good day, as long as the weather holds up. If the weather the last few days is anything to go by, that’ll be a no. We’ll see.

Right, let’s move onto the normal comments on here…

Chad: Good move on not buying the “rubbers,” I doubt you’d have ever used them, ever[1].

Have a nice weekend[5].

1. Regarding the rubbers, you know, you’re actually right. I’m strange in the fact that I insist in writing with a pen as opposed to a pencil. I could have a drawer full of pencils, but I would still dig through it all the way to the bottom to see if there’s a pen in there. I think it went back to my old school days, and the fact we were forced to used pencils, yet the bigger kids were allowed to use biros, etc. That was when the decision was made that the 4th year and the 3rd year were merged into two clas… waaait! Rubbers! I get it now! You meant condoms! Hahaha! That’s so funny! No, truly, my sides are creasing here… bwahaha. God, it’ll take me years to recover from that hilarious use of Americo-English.

5. Thanks. I’ll try my best. The Saturday is a write-off, though.

Wow, I didn’t plan to go off on that rant when I started on the comments section, and I don’t think I’ve ever gave any background information into who “Chad” is. He grew up on the last house in our street, and he is wholly responsible for some of the best, and the worst, moments in my childhood. I am genuinely delighted, despite his comments and my ramblings that he still remembers, and even dreams about the past years. About 9 or 10 (correction: 7) years ago, he moved to Japan to become an English Teacher, and we lost touch. During the early years of my blog, when I had an external forum, he posted some stuff on there which I seem to remember taking offense to, at the time.

Since then, he has never gone away.

I just hope and pray that one day we will meet up again, face-to-face, to discuss everything that has happened in our lives.

Right, after that marathon, onto the Outtake vlog… this one’s a bit of a mess… this one’s supposed to be the one everyone hated. It sort of backfired on me.

Noscere: What? your supposed to keep the out takes?… Bugger

Well, I did, and this was the result! when I record a vlog, I do it in one go. It saves fucking about each time I get something wrong, I don’t stop the recording in between, as that just complicates things. Instead, I just edit the crap bits out with Movie Maker, which doesn’t actually affect the original file. This means I end up with the final version, but still have the original source video. Sometimes I do delete them after I upload them… the “washhouse” master is long gone - there were plenty of outtakes in that, it was about 15 minutes overall.

Unfortunately, this was the most popular one I’ve ever done…

Daniel H: Fucking love this.
Aidey: That was fab! More please
c64glen: This is my favorite one so far!
Owen: (3 comments)
I think you should do a Numa Numa video.
These should also never have been cut !!! they are great!!!
Hahaha SHUT UP SQUEEKY CHAIR !! That’s so my new message tone…

The whole reason I posted this blog in the first place was to get negative comments from it, to see whether it was worth filming any more. Not one negative comment. Everyone loved to see me making a prick of myself… how does that work?? Either way: Owen, I’m not making a Numa Numa video. ever. Thanks for emailing those modules, these will be featured in some way in the next vlog, though I’m not sure if they’re suitable as a permanent new theme tune… of course, the question is, has the recent feedback made me rethink the whole vlog business? the answer: of course it fucking hasn’t…

Oh, nad just an explanation on one of the outtakes…

big bad mick: im curious to see what outtakes didnt make the outtake real…

This is where the confusion lies… YOU (the comment poster) aren’t “big bad mick”. Which is why that was an outtake, I got you mixed up with “bigbadmick”, who was the webmaster of Curried Books - a now defunct (as far as I know) blog. It was just the ultimate in brainfarts where I got you two mixed up. I laughed at the time, and my “fuck” reaction. Uh, I hope I’ve explained that well enough. I probably haven’t.

As for your question, there’s lots of material that didn’t make it, mainly due to the fact I didn’t sift through it. I’ve recorded quite a few vlogs which I wasn’t happy with, or had technical issues such as bad sound. I did one on the light of Liverpool’s defeat in the Uefa cup final. I really wasn’t happy with it. Despite the outtakes, I do have some quality control.

Roght, that’s it for now. Consider me wound down. I shall attempt to post at some point tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: ankie bagger, Music, outtake, taxi, vinyl, vlog, work