You are reading correctly. I said M.D. Yes, as in right at the top. Isn’t that good? A real manager at the top giving you his views. Nice one, I say. Hopefully ‘Mick’ might take some notice and adjust his principles accordingly.

This question brought me out in a cold sweat when I first read it; I had to watch a few re-runs of Fools And Horses to get me into the right frame of mind…

If I don’t choose Del Boy, you see, one side of my brain kicks up a huge fuss, but if I do choose Del Boy, then the other side kicks off; I’ve always loved Detective Frost, how can you not? But they’re both so different–so how does one decide upon the answer?

I considered it like this: who would I prefer to go for a drink with, Del Boy or Frost, if I had a once in a life time chance. Now, without even thinking it through I found myself saying “Del Boy of course!” but wait–Del Boy never had any money on him, did he? And if he did then that money would likely be stolen, or dodgy somehow, goes without saying. But what about Frost? He might buy you a drink but he’d probably be moaning the whole time about a case he couldn’t crack, or his superior giving him jip–

But no, even though it’d probably get me arrested I’d have to go with the one and only Del Boy, I think. Because if Del Boy came along then maybe, just maybe, Granddad would come along too–and maybe even Trigger if it was a really good day!

Got to love Del Boy, what’s your thought?

The much anticipated new album was certainly worth the wait. It is always a bit of a concern that a band with such an impressive back catalogue will come up with a big, fat turkey and spoil things. Well, I can assure you there is absolutely nothing turkeyesque about this album whatsoever. And neither is there anything small. ‘Heligoland’ is massive in its production, massive in its ambition and massive in its complexity.

All of its songs are incredibly clever and have a huge amount of depth to them. The rhythms are totally unpredictable on many of the tracks and each time you listen to this album you will hear something different. The pair wanted to create something fresh with their skills and they have most definitely succeeded. It is a world away from ‘Blue Lines’ or ‘100^th Window’, but it is still unmistakably Massive Attack. There are numerous influences on ‘Heligoland’, but the Trip-Hop vibe still crops up throughout all ten songs.

‘Paradise Circus’ has been released as a single from the album and it is also one of the best tracks. It is slow, jazzy and extremely cool. The gorgeous vocals of Hope Sandoval (of Mazzy Star) are perfect for the song and give it a dreamy, lazy atmosphere.

Massive Attack are an extremely talented pair of musicians. Once again they have managed to go into the studio and come out with something which is truly original; and this is not the easiest of tasks in this ‘been there, done it all’ world of modern music.

One day last week I went out with one of my mates after a lot of arm twisting, we attended a Soft skill workshop. I still can’t believe that Lesley actually made me go to this, I mean you guys know me, you know that this is something that I wouldn’t normally do. Anyway, it turned out to actually be quite an entertaining day, I will post about it soon!

Despite being one of the world’s—if not number one—most unlikely possibilities for sportsman turned chat show host, Andy Murray has won through to the second grand slam final of his career, beating one of the funniest named tennis players ever: Monaco born Marin Cilic.

Andy Murray makes me feel proud to be British and he should make you feel proud, too; ever since Tim Henman’s failing legacy—no offence Tim, we know you gave it your best shot, really—there was a very small part of me that couldn’t fathom a Brit ever winning big again, then along comes the Scot, curly hair and new found muscles and all; not only is he in with a strong chance of ending England’s ridiculously embarrassing seventy four year wait for a males grand-slam singles champion, he’s inadvertently turned a whole new generation on to a game which several years ago was ranked just behind tiddly-winks in the English school-playground coolness stakes.

Now is it me, or is a similar trend to several years ago being repeated as I type these words?

Just like in the weeks following smash hit film I Am Legend, where hordes of middle-aged men could be seen gathering around children’s play equipment in the day-time, in the hope of achieving several Will Smyth style pull-ups and being seen as the embodiment of man itself, men and women who never previously even considered tennis as a way of getting fit can be seen taking to courts everywhere, spurred on by Andy Murray. For that the Scot deserves a medal!

But maybe I’m getting too excited too soon, again: if murphy’s law (no pun intended) holds true then Murray will face tennis-terminator Rodger Federer—fifteen time grand-slam winner and very possible chat show host of the future—in the battle to end all battles on Sunday. Whatever happens we should stand behind Murray all the way. If he doesn’t win, nobody can say he didn’t pull his weight, can they?

I think I have a great suggestion for what we should sort out for Patricio’s birthday bash. Who would be up for a abrupt trip and spending a bit of money on some ski chalet holidays.

The Twenty One Balloons is a fascinating work of fiction by renowned French American author and illustrator William Pene Du Bois. I’ve read the book five or six times and it always leaves me with a smile on my face, feeling several decades younger, as if I’ve been on an exhilarating, action-packed journey, free of the ties of the modern age.

Reading The Twenty One Balloons offers a delightful kind of escapism rarely found in fiction both accessible to children and adults. It’s fantastical and endearing tale of William Waterman Sherman—a retired school-teacher who’s new-found dream is to float completely undisturbed in a hot air balloon for one whole year and whose dream ends somewhat abruptly with him crash-landing on the volcanic island of Krakatoa and becoming stranded there for some time—always makes me think of being a boy and running free in the woods: times gone by when anything was possible and worth doing just for the hell of it. Making things with no sure hope of the outcome and no particular care to that way of thinking.

It’s the language in the book that does it for me—always simplistic, but never less than absolutely accurate—as well as the fine illustrations, which thoroughly document William Waterman Sherman’s many varied and hilarious mishaps; the book is short for a novel at less than several hundred pages, but proves that a good story is a good story, regardless of how long it takes to tell it.

For me, The Twenty One Balloons is one of the few literary gems which has it all—glorious illustrations, fantastic dialogue, intriguing human interaction—and never gets boring. Any first time author who is struggling with their word count and unsure of the merits of a short book should read it at once and become immediately inspired.

Jayne’s surprise pre-wedding weekend: I think I know what we should put together. We should book some val thorens accommodation as a surprise.

Now, being a man, well to be more specific, a single man of a “a certain age”, life holds many quandries - Ok - I’ve got to get even more specific, so hear’s the whole deal :-

Being a single, middle aged, father of teenagers, life holds many quandries. These include the problems of single parenthood, making a living and finding a life that you never thought you would have to alter when in marital bliss!!

“Man stuff” gives a certain amount of pleasure of course and by that I mean traditional “man” subjects such as sports, cars and beer. But the big subject is women!

I came out of a sixteen year relationship, which included eleven years of marriage, eight years ago and life had to start over. You might think that “women” were the furthest thing from my mind but you would be wrong, very, very wrong. You see women are one of the main reasons that men think the way we do, almost everything we talk about, think about and occupy ourselves with has, at it’s core, the objective of getting to know more about women!

So we need to ask ourselves “why?”

Why do men run their lives with the aim of getting to know women. Well there is an obvious answer but I don’t believe that is true for all.

In my experience it is because women talk to each other. They talk about themselves, others, situations and the thing that most men run away from - feelings.

I have been priviledged over the last eight years to get to know many women and the best way of doing this is to become one of them - (no, not physically but mentally, I’m am still 100% hetro!!) . Getting inside a woman’s head is the most satisfying thing. Women care about everything that is around them. They care about the way they look - clothes (colours/cut/style), makeup, presence. They care about their surroundings - decor, furniture, cushions and curtains, those little objects that help turn a house into a home. They care about the people that are around them be they family or freinds.

Most of my friends are now women and getting to know just a little about each one of them has been absolute pleasure. I’m not saying that “I know women” but I know a something about some of them and have learned a great deal about them, about life and about myself.

So my advice to all single men “of a certain age” is to get to know some women, talk to them, or more accurately, get them to talk to you and try to think just a little bit like them you will be mentaly stimulated and highly rewarded.

Now, being a man, well to be more specific, a single man of a “a certain age”, life holds many quandries - Ok - I’ve got to get even more specific, so hear’s the whole deal :-

Being a single, middle aged, father of teenagers, life holds many quandries. These include the problems of single parenthood, making a living and finding a life that you never thought you would have to alter when in marital bliss!!

“Man stuff” gives a certain amount of pleasure of course and by that I mean traditional “man” subjects such as sports, cars and beer. But the big subject is women!

I came out of a sixteen year relationship, which included eleven years of marriage, eight years ago and life had to start over. You might think that “women” were the furthest thing from my mind but you would be wrong, very, very wrong. You see women are one of the main reasons that men think the way we do, almost everything we talk about, think about and occupy ourselves with has, at it’s core, the objective of getting to know more about women!

So we need to ask ourselves “why?”

Why do men run their lives with the aim of getting to know women. Well there is an obvious answer but I don’t believe that is true for all.

In my experience it is because women talk to each other. They talk about themselves, others, situations and the thing that most men run away from - feelings.

I have been priviledged over the last eight years to get to know many women and the best way of doing this is to become one of them - (no, not physically but mentally, I’m am still 100% hetro!!) . Getting inside a woman’s head is the most satisfying thing. Women care about everything that is around them. They care about the way they look - clothes (colours/cut/style), makeup, presence. They care about their surroundings - decor, furniture, cushions and curtains, those little objects that help turn a house into a home. They care about the people that are around them be they family or freinds.

Most of my friends are now women and getting to know just a little about each one of them has been absolute pleasure. I’m not saying that “I know women” but I know a something about some of them and have learned a great deal about them, about life and about myself.

So my advice to all single men “of a certain age” is to get to know some women, talk to them, or more accurately, get them to talk to you and try to think just a little bit like them you will be mentaly stimulated and highly rewarded.

Not all of us were born into the world of digital music… Some people (like me) found themselves here after spending a good few years in the realms of analogue!

If you have a computer then you will probably also have a lot of your music in MP3 format; but what about all of those old cassettes that you have stashed away in your attic? They may even have a lot of stuff recorded on them that you just can’t get anymore; rare B sides, demos or remixes. What a shame it is they are never listened to anymore…

Well, here is something that may just change that. With this gadget on the ‘I Want One of Those’ website you can convert all of your analogue tunes to digital!

You might have come across some similar gadgets before, but this one is really small. In fact, it looks very similar to an old Sony Walkman and it can be stored on a shelf out of the way. A lot of the other devices for converting are about two or three times the size of this.

If you buy yourself one of these then you can get all of your music put together. The thing is that cassettes will often end up getting damaged, damp or lost. And if that happens, your tunes will be gone forever!

Since no-one wants their old cassette tapes anymore, you could be onto something… If you buy a ‘Tape Express’ then you can pick up loads of really good music for next to nothing! How many second hand shops are there out there with stacks and stacks of cassettes for sale?

Quick thing, I have just looked at the design for this human resource software page and I have to say that it is actually really nice. I always find it really disappointing when a company sells software and they have a crap webpage, and I just felt I need to point out how nice this one is!

‘The Blessing of a Beautiful Child’ is a really nice post to read. Because I’m a man, I obviously don’t know what it is like to give birth but when I see something like this it makes me realise how special it all is.

It is not just the big day itself that is exciting (as this post clearly explains) but there are many stages during pregnancy where the whole thing must feel truly magical.

When you think about it, the idea of a new life growing inside of someone is an amazing thing. How lucky a woman is to be able to experience it.

On a rather unrelated note, I need to tell you about an incredable couple of hours that I have just had at work. The company decided to have a team building day to do some Soft skill training. We all just broke off into teams and played a whole bunch of Impro games, you should have seen it, we even managed to break Simon out of his shell!

I just found this post called ‘Dreams’ and I thought how nice it all sounded. I’ve always liked the idea of a cottage in the country as well, and the one that is described here would suit me down to the ground! I love the idea of growing my own vegetables and maybe having a few chickens running around the yard.

Writing down your dreams is probably a really healthy thing to do because it gives you something to work towards. We all have ambitions; if we did not then there would be nothing for us to aim for and life would be pretty boring.

One last thing before I go, I have decided it was about time to just get it over with and book the appointment to get that tattoo that I had gotten in high school removed. It has been infuriating me for a really long time now, evidently I have grown out of that whole defiant stage now. However, I was looking on the page for tattoo removal and I don’t actually know if it will look better afterwards, some of the photos are a little bit unconvincing!