18th December
The Daily Mail have a new advert, claiming that the ink doesn't come off on your hands. If only the ideas didn't come off on your brain, eh? Sarah and I have a long-antipathy towards the fascist, racist, Hate-Mail and so here's our take on the advert. To see the original, click here.
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Here's how Alistair Campbell described the Mail in his evidence to a Parliamentary committee:
"My worry about The Daily Mail has always been its impact upon the rest of the media. You still hear journalists who ought to know better saying, "Say what you like. It is a very professional product." It is not; it is vile. It is the worst of British values posing as the best. It has a backward looking view of the world that I think anybody with progressive values should not respect. It systematically undermines and runs down the country and anybody in public life. I am going to carry on saying that because it is what I believe. The picture it presents of Britain is wholly at odds with the reality and it denigrates anybody who does not share that very backward, far right view of the world."
To see the Daily Mail version of Monopoly, click here!
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28th November
I was terribly pleased with my brand new coat. I'd spent far too much on it at FCUK, who were calling it Buffy Boots. The great things about it are it's suede outside, furry inside, really snug, and has a hood. It was going to be ideal when on yard duty in the snow. (Except it doesn't snow in the South). And then on the first day I take it into work, a student says "My sister's got a coat like that. It's a girl's coat. She got it from New Look". Help! It's the whole woman's bicycle fiasco all over again. But it really is a man's coat. It was in the menswear section and everything.
So today I'm in town doing Christmas shopping and I'm passing New Look and my paranoia gets the better of me. I can't resist. Even though I'm wearing Buffy Boots and think "If there is one just like it they'll accuse me of stealing a girl's coat from New Look". But there it is, just inside the door. It's Buffy Boots, but with extra toggles. And it costs less than half what I paid. And now I'm thinking "Suede coats are the new ponchos - it'll be out of date before I get home".
27th November
Last week a racist came to check the electricity meter. Well, not really to check it, but to pretend he needed to, then convince me into changing electricity companies. He told a string of lies and half-truths, then appealed to my sense of nationalism. "Why would you want to give money to a French company? Wouldn't you want to pay a British company?" Yeah yeah, they come over here and sell us electricity, snatching the power supply out of the mouths of our children. The racist didn't seem to understand that Britain benefits from being part of a global economy. He couldn't see the irony in driving a non-British vehicle. He called me 'mate', 'chum' and 'pal', like he was writing for the Daily Mirror in the 1950s. He was by far the most hateful and stupid person I have ever had to answer the door to.
20th November
We hope you'll all be tuning in tomorrow afternoon to 'Junior Eurovision 2004', on ITV at 2.15pm. This year from Norway, it's another collection of winsome brats singing songs about world peace that they wrote for their GCSEs (or international equivalent). The British competitor is called Cory, here is the chorus of her heartbreaking "The Best Is Yet To Come":
Join hands and unite
The future's looking bright
Hear it in the lyrics of the music that I write
We can bring this dream together
You know it's worth the fight
Let's stand as one thoughout the world
And I know this time we'll get it right
19th November
Fantastic free food last night at the new Wagamama at the Oracle in Reading. It was the staff's first opportunity to try out their skills on real customers, and as guinea pigs we got a main course, a side dish and 2 drinks each, completely free. People who think Adam is like George from Seinfeld will understand how exciting the concept of 'free' is to him. Though of course we left a generous tip, and went on to buy a new VCR in Debenhams' Christmas Spectacular.
18th November
Excellent news for Real PD fans! Forget Band Aid 20, it's Real PD 20! In a press release issued today, the band give details of their newly remastered back catalogue release, and tantalising hints of new material to follow next year. Adam's Real PD discography can be found here.
Real PD Remasters
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of 'People Like These', the first seven Potential Difference/ Real PD albums have been digitally remastered and re-released on CD. All the CDs feature expanded packaging (including new sleeve notes from both Mark and Alistair) and contemporaneous extra tracks. Two of the albums, 'And There Was Wine' and 'D Factor' are now accompanied by a second disc of bonus material. The Real PD CD back catalogue will be completed early next year with the addition of the four remaining albums from the group's original run of recordings, and will take in the years 1988 1991. The albums re-released so far in the reissue programme are: People Like These (1984), Love & Stuff (1985), Paranormal (1986), Sandwich In Motion (1986), And There Was Wine (1987), A Friend Called Sigmund (1987), The D Factor (1988).
New Real PD Album In 2005
Real PD recently reformed in the full four-piece line-up of Adrian Brailsford, Alistair Cumberford, Mark Cahill and Guy Wigmore. The group is currently demo-ing songs for an album of all-new material; this will be Real PD's twelfth studio album and its first in 14 years. Recording proper begins next Easter, with a tentative release in summer 2005.
23rd October: SOUPS OF THE DAY
I'm clearing a backlog of soups here, so you get to read about all my favourites in one go. Chicken & Sweetcorn is Chinese, and delicious in small quantities, it's so glutinous and wonderful with prawn crackers. Wonton has little meat-filled parcels, like Chinese ravioli, and a watery base that is still scrumptious. We discovered Bergen Fish Soup when on holiday in Norway and convinced my mother to bring some back the last time she went to Bergen. We only give it to our most very special dinner guests. Clam Chowder is a very American soup, great flavour and texture, and not as rich as the Bisque below.
8th October
Tales of the playground 2: A great story in the papers this week about 200 children who rioted at a school in Wiltshire because their headteacher insituted a 'no canoodling' rule. Eight were suspended for 'rudeness'. On the CBBC site, teenagers wrote in to agree or disagree, including one from the school who berated the offenders for 'causing destruction to lessons'. You can guess he is a big Newsround fan. Anyway, 81% of teenagers polled felt that you should be allowed to snog at school!
26th September: Things the Royal Mail can't carry (a selection):
Asbestos, Batteries which are not in their retail packaging, Compressed or flammable gases,
Clinical and medical waste, Counterfeit bank notes and postage stamps,
Corrosives (e.g. sulphuric acid), Drugs, Dry ice, Environmental waste,
Explosives, Filth, Flammable liquids, Foreign lottery tickets,
Living creatures (except fish-fry and insects for the use of food for exotic pets),
High strength magnets, Loudspeakers, Peroxide hair colorants, Radioactive materials,
Toxic substances, poisons and pesticides, Weapons and ammunition
25th September: SOUP OF THE DAYRich and creamy, with real lobster pieces that have the authentic gritty seafood taste. It's a little too strong for teatime but ideal as a starter for a proper meal. We had our first ever real bisque at a little soup kiosk just off Broadway in New York. If you do anything to annoy the proprietor he refuses to serve you, but if he likes you he puts bread and fruit in the bag as well as the soup.
24th September
Today was our first chance to see Lucy Blu in action on The Advert Channel. First they showed 20 IKEA adverts from around the world, and then Lucy presented Japanese ads featuring American film stars. She was mainly bowing and trying to imitate Aneka and her 'Japanese Boy' but mainly looking stereotypical. At the minute there's no way to tell what adverts they're going to show, so it's just pot luck.
23rd September
That'll Teach 'Em 2 is finished, so we'll never see Jeanette Gibson again. An article in the Times Educational Supplement quotes her. It says Ms Gibson's stern TV appearance had meant that more pupils at her real school, Windsor Boys, were calling her "Hitler". "My poor Year 9 pupils had not met me until this week, but some had seen the series and were terrified," she said.
22nd September: SOUP OF THE DAYThis is not a high quality chowder at all, in fact it had the taste and texture of dreaded Cream of Mushroom, with added potato, but Sarah claimed she could detect bits of fish in there somwhere. I would recommend avoiding own-brand luxury soups and stick with quality names. And try kedgeree, a much better haddock dish.
21st September
Tales of the playground 1: We were fascinated by a little story that didn't really get picked up by the media about an incident of mass hysteria that happened at a school in Hertfordshire. The school was closed for 3 days because of hundreds of pupils complaining of nausea, but Environmental Health found nothing. Parents were panic-stricken but in the end it was decided it was all in the kids' minds. Read our full report about Collenswood School.
18th September
Today we took a trip to the Royal Berkshire County Show, or the Newbury Show as it's commonly called. Adam last went in 1996 where he was on duty at his school's display stand, though his best memory is bumping into his then headteacher while browsing through jobs at the Independent Schools stand! Anyway, it wouldn't be a show without a whole load of ironic photos, so have a gawp at them here.
2nd SeptemberThanks to David Lomax, who writes: "Hi - like your site - came across it looking for Lucy Blu - I love her. I have got an air freshener to hang in a car which is a cutout of Lucy - I think you get these when you buy a car from Yes Car Credit." It's fantastic!
30th AugustIt wouldn't be Bank Holiday without crap telly (Sheena Queen of the Jungle, Macgyver and the Lost Treasure of Atlantis) and a trip to a car boot sale. Fortunately the college at the end of our street was happy to oblige and we went in search of anything amusing. As well as playing I-Spy for the top 3 boot sale objects (a Spice Girls video, a cruet set, and brown envelopes) we found this fantastic 1970s thermos from Boots. How lucky they were in the days when fashionable meant 3 shades of brown!
28th AugustWe're very gratified that our Lucy Blu page has gone straight to Number 1 on Google. We'd like to sing the praises of another unsung hero of TV, Jeanette Gibson. Who? you ask. She's the fabulous Sixties-stylee English & Drama teacher from Channel 4's "That'll Teach 'Em 2". She's by far and away the grumpiest teacher on the show and plays her 'little Hitler' role to perfection. But she's not like that in real life, where she works at Windsor Boys school. Here's a photo, and a link to her Channel 4 page. Sarah's quite excited because Jeanette studied, like her, at Royal Holloway.
26th August
Our dear friend Peter Askew has revamped his website and it's definitely worth a look!
24th August
You can now read the first story Adam ever wrote at primary school, see Sarah's contributions to the Shelley School annuals, and find out when Adam's mother makes a lot of noise. They're all here. You can also see photos from Adam's primary and middle schools on the primary page.
18th AugustFor the last few years we've been designing Christmas cards which you can see in the design area of the website. We've now changed the name of our design company from 'unique productions' to the one above.
Also, all of the designs and photos can be bought as high-quality photos and cards. Email us for details.
12th August
The socio-economic breakdown of every street in Britain is available on the Up My Street website. Now that we've moved, we wanted to see what type of people we now are. Read about our ACORN profile.
30th July
Overhead conversation between two 13 year old boys on summer camp:
"If I'm rejected, at least it's the last day, but if she says 'Yes' then that's that."
2nd June
The most stressful thing about moving is not packing, or making 36 trips across town with a car full of books, but finding that you have no phone line for 2 weeks until BT can sort out their problems. So sorry if you feel neglected.
We had a splendid response to our New Home competition, and the answers are shown below. Apart from Adam's brother and sister, we also had entries from: the mysterious David T, who not only named the shops but also the streets they were in, using the Internet as his guide; Andrew and Lynne Keast, and Peter Askew. All these people get prizes, which may or may not be things we no longer need after our house move.
2nd May
We've finally moved house! Fridge arrives on Saturday, washing machine a week later, and our furniture finally shifts across at half-term. It's still got lots to do inside and Adam is really looking forward to the DIY.
Another of our competitions asked you to identify the seven high street shops whose initial letters make up the picture below.
We've already got two correct solutions (well done DavidT and AndyandLynne) but there's still plenty of time to enter! The 'O' is the hardest and the (really obvious) clue is the colour ...
2nd April
At last, the Easter holidays, and at last for you (gentle reader) the reason we've been so busy. Our house purchase is proceeding at a greater pace with contracts to be exchanged next week and completion on 27th April. After 12 years of renting Adam is very glad to have a place that he can turn into a design paradise, and Sarah is just glad to get all of his maths stuff out of the lounge.
The new place is a 3-bedroomed semi-detached house in Woking and it has a palm tree in the back garden! It also has fantastic potential, so while all of the double-glazing, bathroom, kitchen and conservatory are brand-new, there's plenty of painting and wallpapering to be done. We'll put up pictures once we're in ...
6th February
Can you be stopped and questioned by the police for taking photos? You can, and I was - read more here.
3rd January
The 100 Worst Pop Records was broadcast on Channel 4 on Thursday. Just for the record (ahem), here are the ones that Adam owns:
99 B*Witched - C'est La Vie
97 Band Aid 2 - Do They Know It's Christmas?
96 Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up
89 The Wombles - Remember You're A Womble
87 Whigfield - Saturday Night
86 Renee & Renato - Save Your Love
76 2 Unlimited - No Limit
69 Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky
66 Doop - Doop
57 Nick Berry - Every Loser Wins
47 Sam Fox - Touch Me (I Want Your Body)
38 Sabrina - Boys
27 Spice Girls - Wannabe
26 Vanilla - No Way No Way
24 Chris de Burgh - Lady In Red
22 Teletubbies - Eh-Oh
20 Anita Dobson - Anyone Can Fall In Love
18 Steps - 5, 6, 7, 8
8 Aqua - Barbie Girl
Thankfully I don't own any of the top 5. You can see the full list on the Channel 4 website.
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