Journal Entries
It never rains but it pours...
Posted Dec 16, 2002
Isn't it funny that you can go through life for months with not much happening, and then lots of things happen together at the same time?
I will be finishing up in work in two weeks time, (nothing to walk into as yet), and in the meantime my wife has become embroiled in a court case with our local hotel. She is a light sleeper, and for over a year we had to deal with a constant "BOOM BOOM BOOM" from the night club until the wee hours every weekend. Last Christmas was particularly bad. The hotel is in the middle of a residential area, and we were not the only people complaining. Anyway, another group of residents took the case to court. My wife was a witness and was called to give her version of events. She did a good job, and the outcome was that we helped to win the case. No late music from the hotel until they did something about it - period.
We thought it was over. It wasn't. First of all, the local rumour mill went into action, and we began to hear back that the poor nightclub had to close because of the actions of vindictive narrow-minded local residents. Then we began to hear that the councillors were walking the streets of the town telling the people how bad we were and that *something would have to be done*. Then my wife's name appeared in the local newspaper, complete with our full home address. Then an appeal was lodged, and yesterday we found out that the hotel was trying to isolate us as the only complainers within our park - effectively trying to prove that we are cranks.
Needless to say, my wife is not taking this well. It's not easy, given that I am losing my job, her work environment at the moment is cr*p, and we have too little kids to look after, and not much support from anyone in the local community.
The principle of the thing has been forgotten too. I have no problem whatsoever with night-clubs, and I spent many nights in them years ago pretending I was the next Michael Jackson and trying (usually unsuccessfully) to meet a like-minded soul of the opposite sex. In my opinion, the music inside can be as loud as the owners can get away with. The problem is, that music escaping into the local environment is about as useful as a fart in a spacesuit; and in a residential area it is particularly annoying. People inside a night-club have a right to enjoy themselves, but equally, people outside that nightclub have a right to a quiet, uninterruped sleep.
I just hope that common sense prevails here. At this moment in time, it doesn't seem like it.
Woodpigeon
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Latest reply: Dec 16, 2002
Not exactly what I hoped....
Posted Nov 13, 2002
When I took on this job over a year ago, I was expecting it to suit me down to the ground. But now, 
, it looks like as if I will need to look elsewhere.
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Latest reply: Nov 13, 2002
The tale of my tooth
Posted Oct 30, 2002
My lowar molar tooth is at it again. First of all it started breaking up involving an extensive filling-job; then it decayed so much that I needed a root canal (a thoroughly enjoyable experience); and last week, when I was in Manchester, the filling covering it made a bid for freedom.
For a while, I was able to fit it back in, but I was scrambled eggs a few days ago when it hid itself cleverly in the congealed mass and 
I swallowed it whole.
The dentist took one look at the massive caldera in my mouth, and announced that I needed a crown, a snip at only 800 euros.
My dentist is paying his mortgage on my one tooth alone.
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Latest reply: Oct 30, 2002
Manchester
Posted Oct 22, 2002
Me and my wife flew to Manchester for the weekend. Very nice city, not a pretty city, but full of life. It looks like the students run the place! How many Starbucks can you fit into one city anyway?
We stayed in a hotel close to the Granada studios. I have a pathological aversion to Coronation Street (there were no tours that day thankfully), but this did not stop my good wife going to the top floor of the Science and Industry museum and taking a long look at the Corrie set out of the window from there! No stopping some people...
Lots of shopping, went to a Star Trek exhibition, were the only two people at a showing of "Men in Black II", had a few drinks and a nice meal. My type of weekend.
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Latest reply: Oct 22, 2002
Kiddies 2
Posted Sep 25, 2002
At 6 months, the baby has already started to crawl - everybody is saying that it is unusual at that age. She is a really active child. We put her into a special ring, which is a type of padded cushion 1 foot high with a depression in the centre. It is designed to keep her in one place, and she is already levering her body right out of it.
Her sleep patterns have been disrupted a bit since we went on hols, so we are doing fairly regular night feeds these days. It's not too bad though.
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Latest reply: Sep 25, 2002
Woodpigeon
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