On the other hand

Lisa and Brendon's showdance was the most inadvertently hilarious thing I have seen this year. The comments about it here have made me cry with laughing.

"Alien:The Musical".

A classic.

Tom Chambers and Camilla Dallerup's Showdance - Strictly Come Dancing 2008

My TV feel good highlight of the year.

No - funnily enough it wasn't the Cobblers losing 5-2 against Leeds in the FA Cup.(I am so not over that.)

I saw this today*

The dog in question was stood patiently waiting for its master to catch him up. It was very touching.

Without wanting to come over all sentimental on you (although why not - it is Christmas) - it seemed poignant that at a time when we are being told increasing numbers of people are chucking their pets out for reasons such as
'My cat doesn't match my new carpet' that others will spare no expense to keep their much loved pet alive.


*Well - not the exact same dog ( I googled for a photo), but one that looked very like it.

Compare and contrast

WARNING: Parochial rant coming up.


Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. It is about 67 miles (108 km) northwest of London on the River Nene, and is the county town of Northamptonshire.

Please stick with this background stuff and I will try to reach my point before TOO long.

The district's population is 200,100 and the urban area's 189,474, making Northampton the 21st largest settlement in England and the UK's 3rd largest town without official city status, after Reading and Dudley.

The town became significant in the 11th century, when the Normans built town walls and a large castle under the stewardship of the Norman earl, Simon de Senlis. The town grew rapidly after the Normans arrived, and beyond the early defences. The town and its castle were important in the early 12th century and the King often held Court in the town. During his famous fall out with Henry II, Thomas Becket at one time escaped from Northampton Castle through the unguarded Northern gate to flee the country,


Milton Keynes is a large town in Central England, about 45 miles (72 km) north-west of London. It is also the principal town of the Borough of Milton Keynes, itself part of ceremonial Buckinghamshire. It was formally designated as a new town on 23 January 1967. At the 2001 census the population of the Milton Keynes urban area, including the adjacent town of Newport Pagnell, was 184,506.


Ikea (where on earth is this going?) - a rather popular furniture store as we all know - wanted to build their largest UK store in the large and historic town of Northampton. Our Borough councillors did not think this was 'a good idea' and turned Ikea down. Milton Keynes Council (15 miles down the road) said (loudly) "WE WANT IKEA!!!" And Ikea went to Milton Keynes creating as it did so, many jobs and knock on benefits for other local businesses.

Northampton Town was founded in 1897 (now she is getting to it -ed.)For the past four years (2004) in order to secure the financial future of the club the current owners have been trying to get approval for redeveloping the land around the ground into a local centre with shops, sporting facilities and a hotel. Our Borough Council has delayed making a decision on this more times than I care to relate here. (Thank god says only reader who has got this far.) Except they have now made a decision, which I will get to in a minute.

Milton Keynes Dons were launched on 21 June 2004, nine months after the then Wimbledon F.C. moved to Milton Keynes (and for god's sake don't get me started on that disgraceful episode... I must stick to my point, always assuming I can still remember what that was). Milton Keynes Council wanted a football club - so they built a state of the art stadium to accommodate one. It's next to Ikea, and has brought with it further jobs and knock on benefits for other local businesses. It seems that when a local council has the will to make things happen,things happen.

On to Northampton's Borough Council and their long awaited decision is .....

Drum roll......

to do nothing until at least 2026.

Yes - I did mean to type 2026. EIGHTEEN YEARS AWAY.

To quote one club director:

"We have discussed the club's intentions now with four chief executives, three council leaders, and it seems a busload of planning officers over a period of five years.

"We have had talks on Area Action Plans, Local Development Frameworks, Joint Core Strategies and Masterplans and yet we are still, after all this time, right back where we started."

It's taking 4 years to build a complete Olympics infrastructure in London. It's taken 9 years to completely rebuild the West Coast mainline including stations at a a cost of £9 billion. It took 8 years to build the Channel Tunnel. It took less than 18 years to build the entire city of Milton Keynes. It will take our council 18 years to even start thinking about developing the football ground? Northampton Borough Council are a total and utter disgrace.

There won't be a fucking football club by then. We will have gone bust long before then without any additional income.

Everyone (except me) will have long since started supporting Milton Keynes (Franchise) Dons.

One is

frightfully chuffed.

The other two Northamptonshire bloggers are positively seething!

Guess he wants to go back

for good.

Brilliant.

Reidski and I were at this gig to see Glasvegas. Here is the summary of the review in the link...

In short, acts like Glasvegas show us that stadium rock can be so much more than cheesy falsetto hymns to groupies and decadent lifestyles, and with this gig anyway, confirmed themselves as the best rock outfit out there today...


After Monday night I for one can not believe there is currently a better rock outfit than Glasvegas.


I can't come up with a more appropriate descriptive word than - Stunning.

What have I started?

"Well, Prince, Genoa and Lucca are now nothing more than estates taken over by the Buonaparte family."



And how long is it going to take me to finish?

Spot the typo

I just sent the following in an e-mail to a colleague:


"The stuff in his flies is absolutely harrowing."






Should have read 'The stuff in his files is....'!

I'm like Lisa!

Cloud has found this which will analyse blogs.

I love daft things like this!

Lisa's blog and mine both come back as this:

ESTP - The Doers

The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Reidski will be best able to judge if my blog does indeed reflect upon my personality. But as Reidski's comes back as ISTP and defines him thus "They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters." I have to say they are a little off the mark with him. Reidski will not mind me saying He Does Not Do Risk! And he is the most careful driver I know.