Things haven't slowed down for me recently, hence I seem to appearing on this site less and less. But don't worry, I won't be disappearing for good!

The whole getting made redundant from work thing, and going self-employed (in a manner of speaking!) has presented problems I hadn't thought about. In a regular job, you know you work a 9 to 5 and then it's 'me time'! Everything's nicely compartmentalised. Now, I sort of potter about, doing stuff - LOTS of stuff. I do get up late, at 9am, but I also work until 3am seven days a week. Absolutely relentless, and I feel kinda guilty if I stop and watch TV or something.

I then found out I'd been badly advised by an alleged financial expert, which opened me up to a hefty penalty from the taxman - did I already mention that on here? Can't remember. Hopefully my forms got in on time, but I still await the knock on the door, and the getting dragged away scenario!

I have also been getting pecked at by my energy supplier, who thought I wanted a new account opening when I moved into my new apartment - actually there was already one set up, so they want me to pay twice, despite me explaining THEY'D made a mistake. Oh, well. I also await them either cutting me off, or selling my 'debt' onto some big men with baseball bats. Yippee!

And on that knee-cracking note, it's 2am already and I've got loads to do - been looking into doing some fundraising for a tiger conservation charity, but there are details to sort out first. Anyway, just time to rummage around for info before collapsing in a heap!

Ta ta folks!

I'll make this blog very short as it's already after 2am here! I realised I've been neglecting TV.com for a bit, and oh the guilt!

Actually I've been away travelling around the country for a while, visiting folks - I wanted to actually see my Dad on Father's Day this year, rather than just chatting on the phone. And so I did. In fact I spent a week with the folks, and saw my brother as well.

Then down to London for a stockmarket seminar, which was very instructive, very interesting. And very nice to meet so many like-minded people from all walks of life! But yikes! It was some pretty expensive travelling I hasten to add. Glad I don't have to do that every week. I guess the rail companies will be happy to blame the high oil prices - so shall I look forward to falling rail fares once the oil price has fallen back a bit? Thought not!

I was out tonight to a park, as they put on a 'Proms in the Park' type thing. It was lovely. It is so much better hearing classical music live and loud - you just can't get the same feel from a CD. Oh and fireworks as well when they played the finale - what else but Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture! So a fun evening out, and great to see so many people enjoying themselves, from toddlers to kids to adults and old folk. The latter particularly enjoyed the 'White Cliffs of Dover' singing along, all out of tune, as they do!

Anyway, I think my bed is calling me - must dash!! So until next time....

And so another series of the Apprentice (UK) draws to a close. It finished with a perhaps unlikely winner in the pterodactyloidal form of Lee, the cheeky cockney - or Essex - boy. Good for him though. He seems to be the one most likely to hang around and do the job, rather than slinging his hook and going into TV or something. Time, as they say, will tell.

There's now the slight annual worry looming on the horizon - Summer television. So Apprentice has now finished; I'm sure House season 4 must be coming to an end soon; the F-Word is always a fairly short run, so maybe two or three more weeks of that. In England we're already getting immersed into the dank, steaming, fly-buzzy diaper-mountain of filth and self-flatulation that is Big Brother - in case you were wondering, it's not my favourite programme. And to make matters worse, we have to put up with unending shame of England not getting into the European football championships. Well, I say 'put up with'. It simply means not watching any terrestrial TV, and sticking to Dog Whisperer - especially when I'm in calm, submissive state, which ain't very often, for sure! Oh and looking forward to Sunday nights for Family Guy - sweet! Yes!

I did wonder what El Gordo Browno - or as Stuwee Griffin would say, the Fat Man - was hiding from us, by fixating the press on the 42-day period that police can hold alleged terrorism suspects without charge - apparently, it's moving all police stations out of town! Great, so if you're getting pummelled senseless in your home by a gang of thugs, you'll have to wait for two hours for the cops to arrive! All to keep crime figures down, because petty crime (ie someone nicking your cellphone) requires you to go to the station to report it - who's going to bother if it's an hour drive away?!

Right, back to my many other blogs! Yikes! Exhausting! I'll be glad to take a break next week and go see my folks! Then off to a seminar about stocktrading - that should be entertaining, but I'm just thankful to have been in natural resource funds (ie oil) since last August!

Until next time folks!!!!

Well, a bit like Homer Simpson, I went to start a new life......'under the sea'! Or in other words, I've been checking out a sort of Wikipedia-type thing called Squidoo. Somebody on one of my other BBs mentioned it, and boy, is it addictive!? But finally I came back to trusty old TV.com!

I saw a section of a UK topical news show this morning called 'The Wright Stuff'. They showed an example of a math 'O' level question from several years ago - in the 1970s I think. Then they showed a typical GCSE question from a couple of years ago. My goodness!!!! The 70s paper was pure algebra leading to two solutions for x if you knew how to do it. I needed a piece of paper. The GCSE was 'it takes Jimmy an hour to get to school. How many hours does he take to go to school each week?' Errrr.....that'll be 5x1=5 then! Bet they can't wait to go to basic uni, and math1.01 to do Laplace transformations and other assorted differential equations!! Good luck!

And then to the Apprentice. Well, ta ta Lucifer, errr, I mean Lucinder. She's not bad really. Honest! Harmless and wishy-washy. I have to say, I was expecting more than just her to get fired tonight. Oh well. It makes for good telly, with an explosive ending hopefully. Looks like they're all fairly evenly matched - about as useless as each other. And whoever 'wins' will have their usual three months working for Alan Sugar before joining the others in media somewhere and somehow. Oh, cynical little me. Must slap myself on the wrist for that. But you know I'm right.

Okay, back to Squidoo - I'm supposed to be starting up a separate blog on arts, writing and music, but never seem to get over there to add anything. D'oh! Naughty Squidoo.

...where, of course, the 'UK' stands for 'Unbridled Knifecrime'. I can't believe how many young lives are being so needlessly and badly wasted. A 'respect' thing? Well, I don't think so. I 'respect' that a knife can cut me up - I know the person brandishing it is a cowardly weasel, and deserves no respect. He should go to a gym and learn boxing or martial arts to gain respect. And the training normally leads to a situation where the youngster no longer needs to 'command' respect from others, as it was only SELF-respect that was in short supply in the first place.

And this so-called happy-slapping thing - well, if they must, how about ONE lad having a go instead of ganging up four-against-one - absolutely spineless, and leaving the family of a poor 17 year-old boy grieving, for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

I'm a very open-minded and liberal sort of person, but even I start to wonder whether the 'powers that be' need to start terrorising people again with the threat of capital punishment: happy-slap someone - if they die, you end up on the gallows! Not so happy then, eh? And of course, no age concerns. If you're a fifteen-year-old and know how to kill, there should be no protection in law.

We should all remember we only get one life, and it's our duty to make the most out of our own talents, and to see and encourage the talents of others.

I'll stop preaching now. It's just been one of those weeks to witness all the worst that humanity has to offer. I offer my condolences to the families of the latest batch of stabbings and murders here in England.