Update

Hey there,

Been a while since I last updated. Had this ruddy cold for weeks now, not getting any better. Ellie made me go skiing again on Friday, which resulted in the Ohi celebrations being called off. Me, her and Ed (of Laura and Ed fame) all felt utterly rubbish on Saturday.

Went to Henley Saturday daytime to be reunited with my Watch, I had to send it to France to get a new strap on it. Still don't understand why they just couldn’t send me a strap to fit myself. Still, only cost me £15 so mustn't grumble.

Was supposed to see :( last night but when I got there they had sold out already. Never even heard of the headline act... ENTER SHIKARI, does this mean that I am losing touch? Or is it just another one of these local bands for local people.

Should have know not to bother, yesterday was crap all around. Got into work yesterday and the first thing I managed to do successfully was to tip tea down my front.

Today is going much better but still feeling pretty under the weather.

Skiing

Went Skiing in Milton Keynes yesterday, Ellie has talked me into going again on Friday night.

oh, what a night

Well, Albion have just put in a penalty to go 3-0 up in the first Back Country derby for 5 years. We just aren't good enough. I'll settle for 3 points next week. We won't go up this year but I'm hoping we can finish 7th and rebuild for next season.

Anyway, happy birthday Becca and Carrie. Went out in Brum for the first time in years last night. We started off with some champaign on the train on the way in, then off to this nice little cafe/bar called the sunflower lounge for a couple of drinks and a few games on the gambling machine that had both who wants to be a millionaire and Bullseye (you can't beat a bit of Bully!) After the sunflower lounge we jouried off in a convoluted treck to Digbeth. When we got to the Sanctuany the queue was right round the corner. We decided to try the custard factory (which is only around the corner), Annie Mac was playing at the custard factory, so that was pretty impossible too. We ended up in a dive opposite with doddgy unisex toilets. It seemed like the point of the bar was for people to go there to have sex in the toilets.

We went back to the sanctuary around 12:30, it's a big place! 6 rooms, Drum and Bass, Indie, Electro and even Motown. Music was good but the sound was rubbish and there were too many people in there. Greg was wrecked by home time! We stumbled out at about 3 o'clock and jumped on the National Express. I couldn' t face a taxi when we arrived in Wolves around 4 so I slept on Tom and Carrie's sofa .

I thought today was going too well

This morning was going just fine until I found out that Accounts had paid ME £250 for my CIM exam entry and membership. They should have paid the CIM!!!

Now I have missed the deadline for entry to my exam in December and they are not letting me take it. Bureaucracy gone mad! It is 2 months till my exam and they claim that they needed to know by Tuesday so that the exam scripts could be sent out. As if 2 days is going to make all the difference.

I've rung my college to see if they have more look at bending the rules than I have. I've booked time off work to take these exams now and attended 3 hour lectures for the last 5 weeks on a Wednesday. They better be able to sort it or else I will not know what to do.

Off back to Wolves tonight so lets hope the traffic on the M40 isn't too bad. I've got Monday and Tuesday off work. At least that is something to look forward to.

Sock-errrrr

Tonight was the 3rd Marketing interdepartmental 5 a side knock about. Unfortunately I took one of my trainers and picked up an almost identical left foot from a pair of Ellie's trainers. Realised this when I got into the changing rooms. Anyhow, I played for an hour with a right boot and a left sock. Had to throw the sock away in the end, it had seen better days. Got some impressive blisters on my feet too!

The first 10 minutes was hard going but I soon got into my stride, scoring 3 goals, whirling around with arms out stretched in my Bull (9) white wolves away kit from a few years back. Just imagine how good I would have been if I had shoes on both feet.

Had my appraisal today too! Went well, although I feel a bit sorry for my boss Mark as it is his birthday and I had a bit of a heated debate about my current salary. He's now got to spend tonight writing up notes on my appraisal and Charlotte's too (Just the way you want to spend your birthday).

By the way Wolves beat Coventry 1-0 too so all is good.

I'm off to bed because I think I've given myself groin strain.

Microsoft runined my enjoyment of football

Wolves won 1-0 against Colchester this afternoon but I couldn't listen to the commentary on Wolves World as, apparently, "This facility is only available to Microsoft Internet explorer 5 users or higher". I use Mozilla Firefox and couldn't listen to it. :(

Went to Henley this afternoon too. Took my watch to this cool shop called paradox, they are going to send it to France to get a replacement strap (tell me why they needed my watch - and couldn't just send me a strap and I could fit it myself!).

Laura and Ed were supposed to be coming to Oxford for a Japanese tonight but they just rang from Bournemouth, so I'm not sure what is happening.

Thinking about buying a house

Ellie found this house on the internet yesterday we can afford a 75% share, so I rang the housing association, who were useless but hopefully we can get a viewing. Here is a link to the virtual tour.

Let me know what you think.

My So Called Commute

Took me 2 hours to get to work this morning. Stuck in 3 Traffic Jams, Took pictures to show you how fun it was.

















7:31 am (total progress -about 400m)


















7:52am (total Progress - about 450m)


















8:07am (total progress (about 500m)


















8:12am (total progress - about 600m)


















8:31 (1 minute after I was supposed to be at work - total progress - about 1km)


















8:40 - Stuck on the ring road


















9:02 - Stuck in Cullham,

9:31, finally arrive at work, 1 hour and one minute late and 2 hours after I left my house. Two Hours to travel 16 miles. Had to go to the petrol station at lunch as I had run out and I didn't expect to be driving today because of my car share. Here's hoping tomorrow is better.

A couple of Nice pictures

My dad sent these two photos over from when I went to my aunts in the summer. The first is Ellie with my cousin's son Billy (he is 2), blowing up balloons. The second is me and him walking back after a game of football, he is more of a rugby man (he kept picking up the ball and running with it - a right little Web Ellis).















Not much else going on in the life of Ben at the moment. Had a power cut for a couple of minutes this morning, weather is not too good here at the moment, but the power came back on again. Had a good storm last night - Ellie thought some one was trying to break in but it was only the wind.

Got a Red Simpson album in the post today, wow that guy likes his trucks.

College tonight... Fun fun fun!!!

A pint a day keeps the doctor away

Was supposed to be going out for Japanese with Laura and Ed tonight but Ellie has got my cold and has decided on an early night. So I sat in front of the telly watched X factor and drank a couple of Guinness’s.

I offered to get take away but didn't realise that meant £8 worth of mezs from the Turkish place in Headington. I had a Kebab, much better value for money. I'll let you guess which of the two meals leaked out on my passenger seat on the way home :(

Just beat Ellie convincingly at privial pursuit, knowing things about Abraham Lincoln and Victoria Beckham that both warranted a piece of Cheese.

Went into town earlier. It was packed. Such as shame would be much nicer if there were less people about.

Also wasted 2 hours of my life watching England draw with Macedonia, Garry Neville and Steve Gerard we both below par in my opinion. Macedonia played some good football at times.

Well-done Scotland! Bad luck Wales.

The Old Man is Snoring

I love Thursdays.

It's like freewheeling down a hill on your bike. College is out of the way and tomorrow is Friday. Only problem is that it's widdling it down outside and I was going to go for a nice walk around Milton Park.

Landlord is coming around today to try and replace the lightbulb in the bathroom but I am sure it is glued in place. Better for him to break it than for me to break it and him charge me for it. Oh well.

Slug in a teacup

This Morning I poured my cuppa as per usual, put my wheetabix in the microwave and went outside to pick some spring onions for my sandwiches. I cut up the spring onions and put them in between the bread but when clearing up the bits that you aren’t supposed to eat… plop, a slug fell into my tea.

Not happy.

Had to wait to get to work for my fist cuppa of the day.

I left the house at 25 to 8 this morning, got to Steve’s a couple of minutes past 8 and I still didn’t get into work till 8:35.

Ridiculous! (I only live 15 miles from work). I wish I could get a bus or a train but public transport from suburban Oxford to Milton Park is none existent.

Grow Your Own

The fruits of my labour are coming through today. For lunch I'm having beef and mustard sandwiches with home grown spring onion, radish and tomatoes. Tastes much better when you've grown it yourself. Unfortunately, because of the rain this weekend, snails and slugs have attacked my in bloom sunflowers... Arr, geddoff my larrnd!
On other matters, the roundabout was a nightmare this morning and it took me 25 minutes to get off Barton, 10 minutes late for work on my fist day in a new job. Not good.

Man Flu

The past 48 hours I have been suffering a bout of man flu, spent most of yesterday in bed and most of today moping around the house. But I did manage to get stuck into my WH Smiths work, decided that they are "A convenience store specialising in none essential Entertainment and Educational items".

Did a 7p analysis of WHS today and read one and a half chapters of the core text.

The light bulb went in the bathroom and I can't get the lampshade off to change the bulb. Even rang our land lord who didn't have any idea either. He is sending an electrician round to take a look (I feel like a DIY guru - need an electrician to change a light bulb).

Got floss out earlier, never seen that rabbit so passive, she normally scratches me to death when I pick her us. Fidel looked dejected and jealous..

And don't mention football to me today... or for the whole of the next week for that matter.