The Hodge Blog

I’m really glad the weekend is here, (well nearly). It seems to have been a very long week, although for me it’s been quite productive, which normally makes the week go quicker.

We were out last night, as I have intimated over the last few days which was nice. The usual mix of banging, crashing, bell-ringing and singing that happens at TGI’s, but that’s OK.

I was staggered to see on breakfast TV (another light news day I guess), that people are struggling to cook, despite the number of cooking programmes on the TV, some even struggle to boil and egg! So, in their (GMTV) inimitable style, they had an expert in to boil an egg and what a shambles they made of it! My idea on how to boil an egg…

1. Always take boiling water
2. I put some vinegar in the water as that seems to stop eggs from the fridge breaking and bleeding the whites. (probably no scientific fact, but it seems to work. Obviously better from room temperature)
3. Ensure the pot keep a good boil for 4 minutes
4. Remove egg and eat

It will be just right on the white with a nice runny yolk. Do one extra minute if you prefer only a moist yolk. She was advocating the same method, but always from room temperature for 6 minutes, well let me tell you, that would be hard boiled! The great thing was, they gave her less than that and the white was still runny. The things that amuse me

On this day in History and last year…

Quote of the Day:
Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.
–C. Archie Danielson

Weather = That’s more like it is, but the rain didn’t happen as much as I would have liked…fussy ain’t I?

Mood meter = tired…

It’s youngest daughter Emma’s Birthday today, she is now 17 and if you are in the UK or certainly down near Hampshire beware, as she is able to start learning to drive from today! (Actually you have a few days grace as she has her first lesson next week). What was I doing 17 years ago at this minute… I was in Oldham at a hotel preparing a road show for my then employer, Draper Tools. I was just picking up breakfast when a person from the hotel came to see me (no mobiles then of course, although I may have had a fixed install in the car???), to tell me to call home.  The 3.5 hour drive ensued and I arrived with Jo still at home and took her from there to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I needn’t have rushed…Emma took a further 12 hours to arrive, despite the fact Jo and I were old hands at this lark

Happy Birthday Emma!

Managed to get the Evergreen on the grass last night and fortunately it has rained a little overnight and is drizzling now, so that should release the stuff nicely. It is saying that there may be heavy rain later which will likely wash it away, so it’s a difficult balance.

The first of the ‘paid trades’ arrived yesterday to start the final tidy up before sale of the house. The guy came from Oven Wonder to get that sorted and what a job. No chemicals, just soap and it is a changed piece of equipment. It looks almost new and he fixed the top oven door and the two internal lights. I can see what’s cooking again. Just need to get an odd-job man organised and we’re away.

Look as if Lindsay may not need picking up from University for the summer break this weekend after all. She is sorting accommodation for the new year in September and the people she has relied upon are not quite cutting it. I have no idea why she didn’t give that negotiation to me, but there it is. She will either be home on the train tomorrow and we will need to go up and get her stuff later, or it will be plan as usual and we will collect her early Saturday morning, lock, stock and two smoking barrels! We’ll see. She has to be down here next week as between us she is working a week with our commercial legal firm, doing a bit of ‘real world’ stuff.

It is getting very busy at Chandlers Ford station for the 7:14am. There has been some strange plinths put in, so maybe we are finally getting some automated ticket machines in. That will be more reliable than the staff at the station, although, it has been very good of late, just when they are about to be fitted.

Out tonight at TGI’s and have to collect new specs on the way home. If we are going early then it’ll be them collecting me from there, (Eastleigh). If later, I’ll continue on the later train to Chandlers Ford. We’ll see…

Just as a reminder, Emma is the only good thing about May 15th, otherwise… dad died, mate Nick Field died, Saints were relegated from the premier league, saints failed reach the play-off finals against Derby…should have stayed in bed!

On this day in History and last year…

Quote of the Day:
God looks at the clean hands, not the full ones.
–Publilius Syrus

Weather = That’s a complete lie. The temperature may be fine, but it’s raining.

Mood meter = It’s been a long week….so far!

If you drilled a hole, straight through my house until it came out the other side, here’s where you’d end up (right on the point of the marker) . Think I’ll start digging…

View Larger Map

In the country that ’sues for fun’ and not in trivial amounts, comes this story, from Reuters about a man suing the US airline Jet Blue after he was forced to sit in a toilet for some of his flight from San Diego to New York and experience ‘”Tremendous Fear”. I can think of tougher ways to extort $2m from someone.

Come on, this country is teaching the World how to sue people and it’s rubbing off here. My coffee is now luke warm, my pizza no longer makes me fat and I have Health and Safety overload. Please throw it out and tell him to try and earn the money like the rest of us.

Off to sue South West Trains…………….

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York man who says he was denied a seat on a five-hour jetBlue flight and was instead told to “hang out” in the plane’s bathroom has sued the airline for $2 million (1 million pounds), saying he suffered “extreme humiliation.”

When Gokhan Mutlu arrived to check in for a jetBlue flight from San Diego to New York in February he was told the flight was full, according to the lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court.

But Mutlu was allowed to board after a jetBlue flight attendant agreed to give up her seat and travel in an airline employee “jump seat.” It was not clear in the lawsuit whether the flight attendant was working.

However 90 minutes into the flight, the pilot told Mutlu the flight attendant was uncomfortable and he would have to give up his seat and “hang out” in the bathroom for the remainder of the flight, the lawsuit said.

The pilot “became angry at (Mutlu’s) reluctance” and said Mutlu “should be grateful for being onboard,” the lawsuit said. When Mutlu volunteered to sit in the “jump seat,” he was told it was reserved for airline personnel.

At one point, the airplane experienced turbulence and Mutlu sat on the toilet seat without a seat belt, causing him “tremendous fear,” the lawsuit said.

JetBlue was not immediately available for comment.

Looks like the last day of the weather. I am desperately hoping it will last until I get home this evening as I want to ‘dress’ the grass before it rains as it should be put on dry, but then be watered within 48 hours, so if I time it right it should need little more than a gentle walk up and down a few times to lay the ‘Evergreen’

It is Emma’s birthday tomorrow. I think we are ready for it, but as usual with Emma we have no plans from here yet on when she will get up, wether we are eating early or late…all I know is it’s TGI Friday’s…as usual.

The team and I from work are off to look at a possible new building for when our lease expires in 15 months or so. Not sure if that’s what’ll happen yet, as I have an appointment with the existing landlord in next week also.

‘Mr Plod’ (PC Blewden) rang me out of the blue yesterday. I expected him to be telling me that they had a arrested someone over the collections that were being made in our name from suppliers back in February, but no… I’m really not sure why he rang, there was NO update, NO criminals caught, NOTHING! It was almost like he wanted some congratulations for keeping in touch. NO, he just got both barrels! It appears that nothing has been done and more to the point, it appears that no communication goes on between the forces across this country as he had no updates from any of them either. Waste of time. Policing has become a pen-pushing bureaucracy. Bring back the policing days of ashes-to-ashes I say.

I never cease to be amazed at how covert you have to be in public life. The housing minister (no idea her name, who cares?), was carrying papers to the cabinet meeting yesterday in a clear folder. Some photographer has zoomed in on the paperwork from across the street and you can read it quite clearly. It said house prices were expected to drop something between 5 and 10%. tell us something we don’t know, but it created some interest on GMTV. You can read if for yourself by clicking on the image above.

If David Cameron and Boris Johnson should be sent to the tower for their cycling antics, where should footballer Steve Claridge be sent after he was found guilty yesterday. We’ll find out on the 9th June.

On the house front, it has fallen to me to engage a tradesman to sort out the few house issues, get the oven up to scratch, clean the windows and carpets, etc, so we can get ours on the market. I’m not too concerned about house prices dropping as so long as you have decent equity then a move is purely relative. If my house is worth £25,000 less, so is the one I move into.

On this day in history and last year…

Quote of the Day:
Forgiveness is not an occasional act: it is a permanent attitude.
–Dr. Martin Luther King

Weather =

Mood meter =:-) Not quite such a big smile, but the World is still fine!

A man has been caught after 2 years, taking covert pictures of women’s bums in and around Venice. He has a wife and remember… hell hath not fury… good luck Mr Bobbit! (Sure they weren’t all as attractive as the picture here

From the BBC…

A man who allegedly photographed more than 3,000 women’s bottoms as they toured Venice has been arrested.

The man was stopped after police became suspicious of a large bag he was carrying as he followed women through St Mark’s Square.

He has been charged with infringement of privacy. It is a cheeky crime, which could earn this 38-year-old Italian from six months to four years in jail.

A police video shows a man in jeans and hooded top walking behind women.

He is trying to position his black holdall close to their legs.

Police said he was filming through a small hole in the side of the bag.

The officers had become suspicious when they realised he was only following women with short skirts. When they stopped or bent down to pick something up, he was clearly trying to angle the bag behind them.

When the voyeur was finally caught police recovered several DVDs which held more than 3,000 images of women’s bottoms.

He confessed to police he had been filming in and around St Mark’s Square for nearly two years.

Police have refused to name him but Mario Marina of Venice police said he is married with two young children and has a professional job in the nearby town of Padua.

He might have some explaining to do when he finally gets home.

The natural disasters stack up with Burma still struggling to come to terms with the cyclone, China has now been hit by a huge earthquake and I suspect, as with most things in China, we will never know the full extent, but even numbers emerging now have a habit of rising alarmingly, especially in such a populous country.

The weather for us is definitely pushing sales as we wrote another good day yesterday, long may that continue, although I suspect that Thursday of this week will see the end of it.

A story was pointed out to me yesterday that had slipped by me. It is that of the man who ‘went a little loony’ and started shooting at passers by and police from his flat. As he was ‘an Oxford educated, lawyer, destined to become a judge’ and was ’shooting from his £1m flat’, we should somehow feel sorry that the police shot him dead. People are starting to ask questions why he was shot dead by police! Imagine had he have shot a few passers by dead? The cry would have been “why didn’t the police do something?”. As I have said before…”Live by the sword, die by the sword” (Thanks Steve for pointing it out).

Saints ‘hater’ and ex-Pompey (and just about every other club in the league) player Steve Claridge was in court yesterday for doing 100mph in his car. His only excuse was “he needed the loo”, well Steve, you smug git…hope they throw the book at you! (I see he lives in a PO post code too!)

On this day in history and last year…

Quote of the Day:
A man who lives right, and is right, has more power in his silence than another has by his words.
–Phillips Brooks

Weather =   and the sun continues!

Mood meter = Why wouldn’t I be!

It’s still busting with sunshine and looks like it will for a few days yet. We have had a very pleasant weekend with yesterday culminating in two al fresco dining experiences at home, It was almost shocking it’s been that wet and dreary.

We discovered who we would be playing again next season in the Championship, as the Premier League came to an end. Derby, Birmingham and Reading took the drop, Reading (another local side), although winning 0-4 at Derby faced the drop as Portsmouth lost to Fulham. With that loss though, they will need to improve if they think they will win the FA Cup next week. Manchester United won the league (which was deserved over the season), but boy, was the referee bad with all the major decisions going United’s way. The other staggering result Middlesbrough, who despite chasing safety until last week, beat Manchester city 8-1!

The votes on the polls are arriving very slowly, I gave each voter the opportunity to place three votes. So far two people have voted. One voted twice and the other once.  I will not be offended, you can choose something else from the list. I will reveal the three I though later in the week.

Decided to spend some of the car money getting the few odd jobs done around the house so we can get it sold and move on. The list of things for a new place runs on with vegetable patch and small workshop added, but we’ll have to see what comes along when we actually are in a  position to move. I’m sure we’ll have to accept less for ours, but so will the next down the chain. It’s all only relative.

On this day in history and last year…

Quote of the Day:
It takes a steady hand to carry a full cup.
–Anonymous

Weather = It’s almost unbelievable.

Mood meter = Not too bad, although it’s a Monday

Last night, as you’ll know from the ‘On this day…’ post, I was out with the boys wetting Ella’s head.

During this visit, one of the boys, Matt, took us down this very dark and foreboding loading yard, which I would have been very concerned of being down alone in the dark, but with 10 other burly blokes, it was not such a trauma. In the corner of this yard was a small door, which turned out to be the rear entrance of The Red Lion (or Red Lione, or Red Lyon) in Southampton.

While not the busiest or trendy, (or sticky!) of the pubs we did that night. What a historical gem.

Here is your starter link.

It’s another glorious looking day here in Hampshire and looking forward to the Farmer’s Market. Strangely for such an early event, rumour has it that Emma is coming with us!

Yesterday was a really strenuous one, set up the new brush cutter, what a bit of kit that is! Cut the grass a few times, as I am trying desperately to get it growing, so I even de-thatched it…manually with a grass rake, boy my arms hurt.

I was out for a while with the boys in Southampton, wetting friend John’s recent family addition, Ella. It was good fun although I had to leave for the 11:22pm train, after paying £1 to get into a pub, with an incredibly sticky floor! I’m nearly 49 for Pete’s sake! Still fun though.

It is regular reader and Niece, Megan’s Birthday today. I’m not quite sure how old she is and I’m too much of a gent to ask Happy Birthday Megan.

They are setting about Boris Johnson, the new London Mayor already and guess what, it’s the pathetic following of him on his bike through the streets of London and recounting the number of times he broke the highway code!  Come on The Sunday Mirror, you did this before with David Cameron and as I said then… “Send him to the Tower!”. Grow up and report on something real and troubling in London, but this is ‘cheap shot’ journalism.

Lastly today, I have grown an addiction to dried mango. To describe it makes it sound awful, but it is really good. It is a little rubbery and very chewy, but great as a snack rather than sweets, but a small 100g bag costs £1.49, that’s steep. So… I have been trying to make my own. the suggestion from Matt at work was to put it in the oven at 50 degrees which should be low enough not to cook, but high enough to de-hydrate. Matt, 3 hours later they were still just slimy slivers of mango. After reading this, I reckon nearer 24 hours at 50 degrees and we should get somewhere.

On this day in history and last year…

Quote of the Day:
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
–Epicurus, ancient Greek philosopher

Weather =

Mood meter = Tired but very happy.